The Massive Environmental Impact of Meat

The Hamburger is a classic American food. According to PBS News, the average American consumes 3 hamburgers a week, contributing to a national total of 150 billion hamburgers a year. But is the average American aware of the environmental impact of meat? You may have heard that meat has both the largest carbon and water footprints of all foods, how does this happen, and what can we do to reduce its impact?

As I mentioned before, meats have the largest carbon footprint of all foods. The production of one quarter pound hamburger emits 6.5 pounds of greenhouse gases. Although this may not seem like a lot, think about how large 6.5 pounds of air would be. This, coupled with the fact that Americans consume 150 billion hamburgers a year, totals to 975 billion pounds of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A lot of these emissions are generated by raising livestock. In fact, the hundreds of millions of pounds of manure generated by cows release nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes 300 times more conducive to climate change than carbon dioxide.

Just as colossal is the water footprint of meats, which also have the largest water footprint of all foods. According to Foodprint, on average, it takes 1,800 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef, 98% of which accounts for the water needed for the grass the cows eat. Doing the math, this gives 450 gallons of water for one quarter pound burger. To put this into perspective, the average shower head uses two gallons of water a minute. Therefore, to make up for the water footprint of a single hamburger you eat, you would have to cut 3 hrs and 45 minutes off of your shower time.

Stopping eating meat altogether may not be a viable option for you, but think about cutting meat from one or two of your meals a week. As seen above, this can have so much more impact than something like shortening showers. There are plenty of fulfilling non-meat options. If the average American consumed 2 hamburgers a week instead of 3, emissions could be reduced by hundreds of billions of pounds.

For more resources, check out Meatless Monday!